Drunk Driver Injures Northlake, TX Officer and Prisoner

Posted on May 18, 2011Last week in Westlake, a Northlake police officer who was transporting a prisoner from the Keller Jail to Denton was involved in a crash when a vehicle, being operated by a Roanoke man, rear-ended his police cruiser. The impact of the collision caused the officer's cruiser to be pushed into the other lane and struck again by an 18-wheeler. The crash injured both the police officer and the prisoner that was being transported in the back of the police car.

According to Keller police, the Roanoke man, identified as Michael Ratcliff, 25, now faces charges of Driving While Intoxicated with an open container. The police report states that officer Kevin Ertle had just picked up the prisoner at the Keller Jail and was on his way to the Denton County Jail. Ertle was stopped at a traffic signal on U.S. 377 when he was rear ended by Ratcliff's pickup which was traveling at a speed around 60 mph. The police SUV was then pushed out into the intersection, where it was hit again by a tractor trailer traveling eastbound on Texas 170.

As a Tarrant County personal injury attorney, we know the damage and pain that a crash can cause. We hope that everyone involved in this crash will recover fully and that this is a lesson to others not to drive under the influence of alcohol.